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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Mr. Schulz tasked me with writing an afterward for volume one. Here's what I have in very rough draft. Comments welcome.

What to Expect …

We do not
have a release date for volume two of this work. If one measures by our current
outline, it’s about half complete. Ultimately, this is not a good measure.
Experience has taught us that we will stumble into the hidden closets and
passages of history. This will force us to revise existing work and perhaps to
add new chapters. But in a broad way I can tell you what to expect.

For readers
of Zion’s Watch Tower the years from 1879 to 1887 were tumultuous. They
set the course for a new religious movement for decades. With some exceptions,
volume two is limited to these years. Zion’s Watch Tower was launched.
Russell and his associates traveled, visiting small groups, preaching their
message and trying to sway their hearers to their point of view. A Year Book
history asserts the formation of congregations. We will tell you what these
groups were like. In most cases, they were not at all like what the Year
Book suggested.

The dispute
of the nature of salvation, ransom, and atonement continued. It intensified as
the movement fragmented. Paton, A. D. Jones, and others left. Each
fragmentation has the unexpected effect of unifying what remained. Issues were
openly debated between key periodicals.

Adams left
Barbour starting The Spirit of the Word. Myers, an Age-to-Come
evangelist, dropped his initial interest, starting his own periodical to
advocate contrary doctrine. He published The At-One-Ment about 1883. We don’t
have this, and cannot find it. We know of it from other sources. If one of our
readers has this, please use the email on the copyright page to contact us.

With Russell’s blessing, Jones
started Zion’s Day Star, soon to be
renamed simply Day Star. Within a short time Jones was swayed by Josephite belief,
the claim that Jesus was the biological son of Joseph. Jones fell into wealth,
squandered it, and then turned to fraud to recoup.

W. Conley drifted into the
Faith-Cure movement, becoming entangled with a rogue Christian and Missionary
Alliance clergyman who seduced and molested the women connected with Conley’s
Faith-Cure home. Conley had other issues. We tell you what they were and how
they affected his relationship with Russell.

We consider early interest,
focusing on new evangelists, their work, and the push to alter Russell’s views
in key areas. We tell you of new doctrinal developments, a key one being the
change from belief in a two-stage advent to a belief in a totally invisible
advent. L. A. Allen played an important role in this. As far as I know, no-one
has ever documented this.

We explore the publication of Food
for Thinking Christians. There is a hugely unexplored story here. While this
did not open the “foreign field” (There was prior interest in Canada,
the United Kingdom,
and France), it
expanded if largely. We tell you in detail about the early work in the UK,
Canada, China,
Liberia and
elsewhere. We explore the roots of foreign language work within the United
States. These chapters restore names and
biographies to people long forgotten. They give, we think, a clearer insight
into the nature and cohesiveness of the earliest WatchTower adherents.

We tell you about their
expectations for 1881. WatchTower
readers were neither the first nor the only group to focus on 1881 as a year of
prophetic significance. You will see that among WatchTower readers expectations
differed. The 1881 failure was disastrous for Barbour. It shook Jones loose
from his spiritual moorings. Russell promulgated a new doctrine which some
readers found disturbing.

This period is one of developing
self view. We’ve detailed some of that in this volume. We explore it more fully
when we chronicle the division between Russell and Paton.

We tell you about the publication
of Plan of the Ages, exploring Maria Russell’s claim to joint-authorship. We
tell you about the first booklets and tracts. We explore the influence of Smith-Warleigh.
We present a biography of one of Russell’s early associates, an English writer.

The last chapter, as we have it in
our outline now, is a consideration of the first congregations. We explore
their nature and development. We tell you something of the individuals who
helped found them. This is an interesting story that takes us to a ship’s
captain, a man who fled a murder charge to become a newspaper editor, and
others equally colorful.

You will find a more complex, more
interesting story than is usually told. Personally, I like volume two. I think
this volume is important for the background it presents, the clearer picture of
Russell’s youth and of those who influenced him. But the story we tell in
volume two explains the nature of the movement started with the publication of Zion’s
Watch Tower, and that is the heart of this history.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

I've written and rewritten my introduction. I threw everything out and wrote this instead. Rough Draft follows:

My
Turn: Rachael’s Comments

Bringing this volume to print isn’t exactly like giving birth,
but there are similarities. Original research has its own set of pains,
agonies, and irritations. And it has its joys.

****

We knew error and fabrication
colored how this story has most often been told. We did not appreciate the
extent to which this is true. We expected a reasonable amount of competence
among those who have tackled WatchTower
history, and we found some authors reliable. Most are not. Even among the most
reliable, we found a tendency to turn presumption into “fact.”

Many of those who preceded us were polemicists.
This is true of some who presented themselves as credentialed historians or
sociologists, and it is especially true of most clergy who’ve written on the
subject. It amazes me that these writers are taken seriously merely because
they were published.

We do not fault anyone for having a
point of view. We have our own, and privately we debate issues ranging from our
personal theologies to interpretation of historical evidence. However, a point
of view should not lead one to turn presumption into ‘fact.” It should not lead
one to fabricate.

The works of some are characterized
by logic flaws. An anonymous writer substitutes capital
letters for reason, presuming that capitalizing random words proves a
point. This reflects a seriously defective education on his part and on the
part of those gullible enough to find this convincing. He also withholds from
his readers documentation. If the antiquated psychological descriptor “anal
retentive” has any validity, it applies here.

We reject this approach. We tell you what our sources are,
and though that results in copious footnotes, it leaves no doubt about the
trail we followed. Occasionally we tell you where to find rare or otherwise
hard to find sources. Don’t ignore the footnotes. We adopted the dictum “the
story is in the details,” probing and poking at original sources, following hunches
and hints where ever they led.

After reading rough drafts of some of our chapters, another
writer suggested that this book is destined to be the classic presentation of WatchTower history. I appreciated the
kind comment, but we see this work as preliminary, as the first step in
research that should have been undertaken decades ago. We look for more and
better research from others more competent than ourselves or who are willing to
follow trails we could not. Where we reached “dead ends,” others may find a
trail to follow.

A major flaw in previous research is willingness to parrot
unfounded assertions of others. If you take up the themes we’ve opened in this
volume, ask this critical question of each writer you consult: “How do you know
that?” Check their sources; probe for detail.

The story we tell here is, as Mr. Schulz observed in his
introductory essay, different from what we presumed it would be. We presumed a “unity
of belief” among Russell and his associates that did not exist. In volume two
we will detail the divisions and separations and early controversies that
resulted in ecclesiastical unity, a separate religion. Our premise as it
finally developed is that a group exploration of Bible teaching resulted in a
settled doctrine developed out of debate, difference and controversy. The
doctrinal set finally settled on created a new religious unity. It peeled off dissenters
who went their own ways.

In this volume we examine the historical and theological
roots of Zion’s WatchTower. That the story is more
complex and often different than usually presented should surprise no one. One
largely accurate history presents this entire period in six paragraphs. We
presume the author told us everything he knew or thought important. The fault
isn’t in what he wrote. It is in what he omitted.

Theologically I’m a skeptical believer. I approach historical
research in the same way, which means I question everything including commonly
believed “facts.” Many of those proved absolutely true. Some proved false. As
you explore this first volume, you will encounter the familiar and the new.

The men and women in this story, long dead though they are,
produced an emotional response. I came to like some of them. Some of them are
remarkably distasteful, mean spirited and delusional. No historian writes an
impartial history. But we have written to the full measure of our ability an accurate
one. Despite our best efforts, we have probably made some errors of fact. We hope
not, but given the depth and complexity of this research – and the newness of
some of it – it seems inevitable that we got something wrong. It won’t hurt my
feelings if someone points out the flaw, but I expect proof, not mere opinion.
I expect critics to be as competent as we are, and I hold them to the same
standards of historical research we manifest here.

A number of people have taken an interest in our research,
assisting in various ways. We cannot name them all, and some wish to remain
anonymous.

Institutions that were especially
helpful included the Methodist archive at WoffordCollege through Dr. R. Philip Stone;
the State University of New York at Plattsburg; Franklin County Ohio through
archivist Sandy Eckhart; the Archives of the Episcopal Church at Austin, Texas,
through archivist Laura Kata; Ohio State Historical Society through Elizabeth
Plummer; Almont District Library though its librarian, Kay Hurd; Junita College
through librarian Janice Hartman. I’ve probably left out others equally
helpful. I apologize to those I’ve omitted.

Some institutions were distinctly
un-helpful, even hostile. We’re still waiting on replies to emails and letters
sent to some several years ago. The Library of Congress was hostile and
unhelpful. The National Archives of the United
States of America sent us key documents
connected to one of Russell’s early associates. They refused to help when we
requested other documentation that may hold the Department of Justice in a bad
light, even though the material is about a hundred years old. The archivist at BostonUniversity refused to provide
photocopies of key material based on her reading of the papers. One of the
friends of this research traveled there and made the copies in person.

Though the Watch Tower Society
declined access to a key document, they forwarded nine pages of photocopy, four
of which we did not have. They are, of course, not responsible for our research
or our conclusions. Given the opportunity to review volume one, they made no
comment. They did not sponsor this work.

Some individuals were exceptionally
helpful. This would be a significantly diminished work without their help. Some
names that should appear in this list do not because of privacy concerns.

** and his wife took time from a business
trip to photocopy archival material at an archive that was reluctant to help.
This provided key documentation.

** provided photocopies of rare
material.

An individual we’ll leave unnamed
visited the New York Public Library to view and copy documents we would
otherwise not have seen.

** of the Netherlands
provided significant research assistance, forwarding his “finds” on a regular
basis. Key documentation came from his efforts.

** of the United
Kingdom gave us access to much of the
material we used to develop our profile of George Storrs. He helped us analyze
a mass of One Faith material and he obtained in our behalf rare magazines and pamphlets.
He carefully read our manuscript, challenging some statements and adding to our
understanding of some issues. Our greatest debt is to ** and **.

Dr. ** sent copies of key early
booklets. This book would not be as accurate without access to them.

William Buvinger allowed access to
the Buvinger family archives and provided the relevant photos used in this
book. Members of the Barbour, von Zech, Wendell, and J. A. Brown families
forwarded important material, including wills, family papers and photos.

Jan Stilson, editor and author of Biographical
Encyclopedia, Chronicling the History of the Church
of God Abrahamic Faith,
19th & 20th Centuries, shared her research with us and read a key
section of this book. She helped us access material from the archives of AtlantaBibleCollege.

** of Italy
transcribed the articles found in Appendix 2. He said nice things about us in
the two books he edited, and he provided moral support that I found valuable.

** and ** helped us overcome copyright
issues connected with two photographs. Additionally, we found ** research very
helpful.

** of Austria
provided key help with some of Russell’s earliest associates.

I’m certain we’ve left off many who
helped in various ways. To those not found in this list, I apologize. To those
who wish to be anonymous but who helped in various ways, my thanks.

Rachael
de Vienne

If you should be on this list and don't see yourself here, email me. I didn't intentionally leave anyone off except those who should remain anonymous.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Writing
solid, well-researched history is a challenge. Success depends on persistence
and serendipity. A narrow view of events will kill what may have been, given
more attention to detail, an adequate history. Let me illustrate: Jehovah’s
Witnesses: Proclamers of God’s Kingdom mentions Benjamin Wallace Keith
once, saying: “Then, in 1864, Benjamin Wilson had published his Emphatic
Diaglott with the interlinear reading “presence,” not “coming,” for pa·rou·si′a,
and B. W. Keith, an associate of Barbour, had drawn it to the
attention of Barbour and his associates.”

Keith was a contributor first to Herald
of the Morning and then to Zion’s
WatchTower.
He was one of their most prominent evangelists. But this is all the author
chose to tell us, and it appears that this is all that he knew. When we wrote Nelson
Barbour: The Millennium’s Forgotten Prophet we included Keith’s basic
biography. We have enlarged it and new details will appear in A Separate
Identity. Among the most basic facts is Keith’s statement that he entered
the Barbourite movement in 1867. He gave the date only, no details.

Persistence and a willingness to
see beyond Russell’s biography brought us solid details that help us reclaim
Keith’s history and something of his personality. The latest detail is a single
sentence article in a Philadelphia
newspaper. It cited a New York
newspapers report of a tent meeting held at Rochester,
New York, in August 1867. While this only
makes it to a footnote it adds detail we didn’t have. Can we place Keith at
that tent meeting? No. But it was near Dansville, Keith’s residence. So while
we cannot say with surety that Keith was converted at that tent meeting, we can
present the likelihood.

Keith’s life was filled with
accident and tragedy. He was a committed believer. He was a talented writer,
but, unlike Sunderlin, he wasn’t educated for the ministry. He was a
widely-read autodidact.

In another post, Rachael discusses
myth busting. Detail trumps myth. The claim that various of Russell’s early
associates were Millerites is the product of an imagination unrestrained by
good judgment. Paton, Keith and most of the others were too young to have been
Millerites. So what were they prior to their interest in Barbour’s
speculations? We tell you. And to the extent we know, we tell you what
attracted them to Barbour’s doctrines. We cannot penetrate the psyche of people
long dead, leaving us dependent on what remains of their writing.

Another example of detail
clarifying and enlarging the story is found in Russell’s association with the
Plymouth Congregational Church. We’ve found fabricated details in an online encyclopedia,
in dissertations, and in print. Zydeck made up details he couldn’t otherwise
find. But with very little effort we found the name of the church, the names of
the two pastors Russell knew, and its address. We found samples of the first
pastor’s teaching. Knowing that Russell heard millennialist preaching as a
young man furthers the story.

Not everything comes to us with
ease. Some details resisted persistent and informed research. Uncovering
Emeline Barbour’s basic biography came from a find by one of our blog readers.
They sent us a link to a webpage. We contacted a librarian who in turn sent us
a scan of a newspaper article. We exhausted all the New
York papers we could search. We have what we have
because of that assistance. It is detail we’ve probed for since 2005. Knowing
what little of her biography we do places her in her proper light.

Unresolved is speculation that
Barbour was previously married to a woman who died about 1870. The evidence is
slight, almost non-existent. We do not mention our suspicion in Separate
Identity. But we continue to look.

Recovering the biographies of the
principal actors reconnects them to contemporary events. We see these details
as key to a clear understanding of events and personalities. Those details that
help us the most are those that explain an individual’s self-view. So there is
Paton’s dream that he took for a vision; there’s Barbour’s fluffy cloud
revelation, and there’s Russell’s plainly-stated self-view.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Mr. Schulz asked me to post an
update. Except for the last chapter, the ebook version is formatted. We printed
it out. We’ll make some changes, though not many.

Volume One of A Separate Identity
has eight chapters. Before you read the main text, read the two introductory
essays. Mr. Schulz’ is more important than mine, and you will find it first.
Chapter one considers Russell’s family, his youth, religious experiences before
meeting Wendell, and his business ventures. Obviously we don’t tell the usual
story or this chapter would be a paragraph or two long. We name names. We
detail events usually overlooked.

Chapter two considers his interactions
with Wendell, Stetson and others. We take you into the lives of the Adventist
and Age to Come evangelists we know he met. You will find characters you knew
nothing about. We tell you what kind of men they were, what they taught and
what they wrote. This chapter covers the years 1869-1873.

Chapter three continues this
discussion. We focus on Storrs and
others that appeared in the years 1874-1876. If you read the Wikipedia articles
on Russell and Storrs, you will
find that they are wrong. This isn’t surprising given the research standards
adopted by those who’ve contributed to those articles.

Chapters two and three takes one
into the complex world of One Faith belief as contrasted with Adventism. You
will find that Russell’s doctrinal set is One Faith, not Adventist. We continue
that theme in chapter four.

Chapter four details the formation
and growth of the original Allegheny Bible Study Group. We tell you to the
extent we know it who participated. We tell you what they read and discussed. We
uncover their doctrinal development. We tell you that the group was not
unified. We tell you the story usually told about this group is a myth, and we
show you why that is so.

Chapter five discusses Russell’s
entry into the Barbourite movement. We provide significant biographies of the
principals with photos. You will see John Paton in a new light. This chapter introduces
our readers to Benjamin Wallace Keith, Samuel Howe Withington, Ira Allen and
his daughter Lizzie, and Avis Hamlin. Some of these are important to the story
told in volume one; some come to prominence in volume two.

Chapter six tells the story of
Barbour, Russell, and Paton’s early ministry. We tell this from Barbour and
Russell’s own words and from newspaper articles that haven’t seen the light of
day in 150 years. Payton G. Bowman makes a brief appearance. We address some
persistent mythology in this chapter.

Chapter seven profiles their principal
converts. These include Caleb Davies and wife, William I Mann (we can’t find
his photo), Charles and Emma Buvinger, Joshua Tavender, John Corbin Sunderlin,
A. P. Adams, and Emeline Bigelow-Jobes who became Mrs. Barbour. Some of these
names will be familiar to our readers and some not. They’re all important to
this history, though most of them come to prominence in volume two. We present
their biographies frankly and in some detail. We tell about Sunderlin’s opium
addition, Adam’s intimidating manner, Tavender’s generosity, Mann’s reputation
among his contemporary. This story is told from original letters, papers from
the Methodist Archives, newspaper articles, and from the WatchTower and Herald of the Morning.

Chapter eight examines the collapse of their expectations
for 1878 and the aftermath as it played out in the Atonement controversy. This
takes us up to the first issue of Zion's
WatchTower.
We tell you who H. B. Rice really was. We dissect the claims made by all the
parties, putting some things in the trash bin and introducing events new to
most of our readers.

A short article follows. It tells
our readers what to expect in volume two. An appendix considers Russell’s
relationship to the Masons. Another reproduces the Atonement articles from the
Herald of the Morning.

We don't have a firm release date yet ... but soon.

Original research entails
significant expense. Several have helped, but there is always something else to
buy and our funds are very limited. Clothing and putting shoes on the feet of
my five daughters comes first.

We have a limited time opportunity
to purchase part sets of two key 19th Century magazines. We’re
focusing on the older of these, a magazine published in the 1830s that stands in
the background of the One Faith movement. If we return to the earlier years (I’d
like to), and write the history of WatchTower antecedents, we will need
this. The problem is lack of money. We anticipate that the entire collection
(both magazines; one with three bound volumes and the other with five) will
cost about two hundred and fifty dollars. We don’t have that. I doubt we can
raise the total amount.

So, now you know. If you want to
donate (any amount is welcome) you may do so through the donation button on the
invitation only blog or contact me at rmdevienne at yahoo dot com and I’ll tell
you how.

Obituaries are a good source of
information, although when it comes to accuracy they can leave a lot to be
desired. The events involving the subject are often a long time in the past,
and memory can let people down or cause them to even embroider the story; much
as funeral orations tends to (in the words of a popular song) “accentuate the
positive, and eliminate the negative...”

So we have the obituary of Joseph L
Russell, which states he came to America “about 1845.” The word of hesitation –
“about” – has since been turned into a more definite statement in some
writings, and also in the commentary of a history DVD. However, Joseph’s
naturalisation papers, completed in 1848 show that he needed to have been in
the United States for at least five years prior to signing the document.

Then there is
also some detail in the obituary of Hugh Brown Rice, the main subject of this
article.

Rice died in 1905, and his
obituary in the Los Angeles Herald for November 3, 1905, highlighted that he
was a religious man, but concentrated on his business success as a travel agent
for Steamship Lines. His pallbearers were all business associates, not
religious associates. There is no mention of his passing in the Restitution, a
paper that once carried letter after letter from him. Anyone can check the full
obituary on the Find a Grave site.

But there was another obituary
published in the Obituary Record of Graduates of Amherst College, for the
Academical Year Ending June 27, 1906, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1906, page 158.

This adds some more detail, and
it is here that the memory of surviving relatives lets the side down. It
states: “During
the last twenty-five years of his life he regularly taught a large and
enthusiastic Bible class in Los Angeles. He was a frequent contributor to
religious publications, and for several years published a small monthly paper
called The Last Trump.”

Let’s
do the math here. He regularly taught a large and enthusiastic Bible class in
Los Angeles for twenty-five years? That would take us back to around 1880, the
time he had a brief association with CTR and Nelson Barbour. Was his Bible
class large and enthusiastic and continuous? In the latter part of the 1880s
many letters from Rice were published in the Restitution newspaper. They showed
Rice struggling to makes ends meet as an unsuccessful farmer, and storekeeper,
and bemoaning his isolation from those of like faith. They repeatedly ask for
financial help so he can go preaching. On one documented occasion he leaves his
family in near penury, goes preaching far away and runs out of money and has
great difficulty getting home. For more details of Rice’s continuing tales of woe,
see an earlier article on this blog from July 1, 2012, H B RICE - AN IMPECUNIOUS MAN.There is also a typical letter from the
period reproduced at the end of this article, which stresses both his isolation
and lack of funds.

The Amherst obituary also mentions his
paper The Last Trump running for several years. This would appear to be a “folk
memory” on the part of his family. It ran for about three issues and then
folded prior to the start of Zion’s Watch Tower. When a dramatic reversal
occurred in Rice’s fortunes at the very end of the 80s, he disappears
completely from the pages of extant One Faith/Age to Come publications.For Rice to have published for several years
would have meant his re-starting it when he finally got on his feet financially
in the 1890s. While the old adage holds true that absence of evidence is not
necessarily evidence of absence, it would seem extremely doubtful.

Once Rice finally gets his finances in
order, his dreams of an active ministry disappear into the relief of actually
making a reasonable living for a growing family. The Los Angeles Herald obituary
mentions a N W J Straub, whose Bible class he attended, but Straub is not to be
found in the Restitution.

Perhaps the main thing the Amherst
obituary does for us is draw two diverse pictures together. On one hand we have
the financial failure – the struggling letter writer regularly pleading year
after year for financial help – and on the other we have the prosperous
businessman with his own travel agency. The two are so disparate, you could be
forgiven for wondering if these were two different men – both coincidentally
named Hugh B Rice. At least the Amherst obituary shows this was the same man –
even if the details have been blurred and distorted in the telling.

Basically, Rice’s obituary highlights
the major flaw in all obituaries – the one person who could verify the
information is unfortunately not there to do so.

Below is a typical letter from H B Rice,
as published in The Restitution for November 7, 1888, page 4.

DELANO, Cal.

Dear Restitution:

Although far away from any church
organization and having none of that “fellowship of kindred minds” which
Christians so much need and which I so much covet, I must write to express my
deep interest in the movement now being towards organization of our forces.
Co-operation is certainly Scriptural and wise and needful in our work. How I
would rejoice could I be present in Philadelphia at the General Conference. May
God direct you all in your planning and may the much needed union of effort be
well begun and enthusiastically carried out.

Since it has pleased God by the “foolishness
of preaching” (not foolish preaching), to save those who believe, we canst
preach if we save any. Now I am too much burdened by the cares of a large and
helpless family, and poverty, brought on by sundry mistakes in business
enterprise and consequent indebtedness, to hope to be able to give my whole
time to this glorious work soon. Some who have heard me preach in years past
urge that I ought to give my attention to that work. Surely I am not a Jonah! I
would rather preach the gospel than any other work. Hardships and privations
for myself I mind not at all. But when my honest debts state me in the face,
and a wife and five children appeal to me for bread and clothing, how can I go
forth among strangers, most of whom are not in the least interested in such
things, with no brethren able to aid me, no organized or systematic methods
among them to sustain me while my time and labor is given to gospel work?

I do preach, not often in public, for I
have no opportunity for that, but by the wayside, on the path, on the road, in
private houses, to individuals, to all who will listen anywhere and everywhere.
I lend books and tracts, and can see some fruit of my labor. But after various
wanderings in search of a home for my family, I am at least located here on a government
claim, a homestead of 160 acres, two miles from Delano. One year has rapidly
passed away. I have a plain but comfortable house of four rooms, and a fence
enclosing less than an acre about the house, a few grape vines and a dozen
fruit trees growing misely, a two-horse wagon, a two-horse buggy, a gang plow
and seeder, eight or nine tons of hay, and four work animals.

It is too dry to slow saw. We have had
no rain except a light shower not sufficient to lay the dust well, since the
forepart of last March! Last season was too dry to raise a crop except on
irrigated land. But water is only twelve to fourteen feet from the surface on
my land, and windmills would enable me to put in and raise an orchard and
vineyard and a few acres of alfalfa; if I could only get them. Two or three
cheap mills would be needed for ten or fifteen acres. The soil and climate are
exceedingly favorable if we only had water. Rabbit-proof fencing is also a
necessity. But here I am, unable to get work, without means to make these
needed improvements; among strangers, no brethren anywhere near me, and, at
present, no work of any kind by which I can earn a dollar. As soon as it rains
I can get all the plowing I can do at good prices, but that does not supply
present needs. Well, perhaps I ought not to say so much of my present
condition, but it just occurred to me it might serve as an example of how some
who long to preach cannot.

No one is more ready and anxious to help
himself than I am, and in fact, when one reflects that a year ago I had nearly
nothing and had to borrow from an old San Francisco acquaintance the money to
file on my land, I feel great gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the success
attained. Educated and trained for the ministry in the Presbyterian Church,
having seven or eight years of practical experience as a preacher, in that
church first, and then in the Christian Church or among the Disciples, having
been pastor of a church for two years at Rock Island, Illinois, and then in San
Francisco, California, and preached in many other places acceptably while
knowing only a meagre part of the truth as it is in Jesus, I feel certain that
I could do good heralding forth the “glad tidings of great joy which shall be
to all people” were it in my power. It is my purpose, if the Lord tarries so
long, to give my whole time to preaching as soon as I can get my farm into a
condition that will enable my family to support themselves thereon. I am trying
to teach my children (for I cannot send them to school at present) and am not
neglecting the word of the Lord. This work may be more important now than any
other, but of course when I get work to do I must be busy at that and may be
compelled to be away from home, when such teaching will be interrupted.

In the meantime were the Lord to open
any door for me to engage in my chosen work, I would try to do that rather. I
have threatened several times to write to THE RESTITUTION and announce myself
ready to fill calls in California to preach if any were interested and would
pay my expenses to reach the place and return home. But I have been so isolated
and so busy I have hesitated. This letter is written on the impulse of the
moment, in view of the notices I have read concerning the General Conference
and its aims. The thought came, unless the brethren know of my condition and
feelings they certainly can never help me to devise ways and means to do gospel
work, and perhaps, if they knew, some might be able and willing to join hands
with me and so the good news be sounded out in California.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Any material you have relevant to the era from Grew to July 1879 that you wish to share should be sent now. Attach it to an email and send it to rmdevienne [at] yahoo [dot] com.

We're formatting the ARC now. (Advanced reading copy). Its in ebook format first. An afterward and the last three or four pages of the last chapter remain to be written. Last chapter of volume one will need a good edit.

I'm typing up my introductory essay today. I'm compiling a list of people to thank. I have very bad memory, so if you helped at all and think you should be mentioned, refresh my memory. Do that soon.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

There will be roughly 350-370 pages in volume one. It will
contain about 100 photos, either of individuals or of original documents. While
it will have a table of contents (of course), we’ll wait on an index until
volume two is complete. There are eight chapters and two appendices. Appendix
one considers Russell and the Masons. Appendix two reproduces the pertinent
Atonement articles.

Each of us has written an introductory essay. We’re still
tinkering with those. There will be an afterward, telling some of what is to
come in volume two.

We need a volunteer who can merge the several chapters into
one document. We need the formatting of each chapter, including the footnote
numbering to stay as is. We don’t want changes to the font, the alignment, the
footnote format or anything else in the text. We just want the separate
documents merged.

We need this in two formats. The first is as is with one
inch margins. This will be the ebook format. The second is print as book format
with variable margins. Word has a template. It must be set to lulu.com’s
standard.

This is a huge chore. I thought I could do this using
wordperfect, but the images are distorted by wp. Wordperfect has the advantage
of a footnote continued message.